Ai Assistants as Dialogue Practice Partners: Experience of Application in the Efl Classroom
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The growing availability of large language model (LLM)-based conversational tools – most notably ChatGPT and specialised derivatives – has introduced a genuinely transformative resource into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy. This article offers a theoretically grounded and empirically informed synthesis of current knowledge concerning the use of AI assistants as dialogue practice partners in EFL settings. Drawing on peer-reviewed research published primarily between 2022 and 2025, the paper examines three dimensions of AI-assisted dialogue practice: its theoretical foundations in sociocultural learning theory and communicative language teaching; its documented effects on foreign language speaking anxiety, willingness to communicate, oral fluency, and learner autonomy; and the critical pedagogical limitations that must be addressed for responsible integration. The article argues that AI dialogue partners, deployed purposefully within a teacher-guided framework, offer meaningful supplementary communicative practice – particularly in contexts, such as Uzbekistan and broader Central Asia, where learners have structurally limited access to authentic English interaction. The paper concludes with evidence-based recommendations for integrating AI dialogue tools into EFL speaking instruction without displacing the irreducibly human dimensions of communicative language development.
Institution: Namangan State Pedagogical Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7204237211